Review: Wrong Turn (Criminal Minds)
Feb. 7th, 2009 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireAs some of you know, I've recently been bemoaning the state of Genfic (leave a prompt for the Gen battle here!) and the state of fic in Criminal Minds in particular. So it only seems fair that when I come across something I like, I tell you about that as well. I'm trying to give full and proper reviews of stories, as much to get myself thinking as anything else, but also because I find so little long case-fic in this fandom that I feel like waving my hands madly and saying 'read this!' when I come across it.
Wrong Turn by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
buffyaddict13 and cycatryx is a long case-style fic, that simultaneously demonstrates that it's possible to write good case-fic in Criminal Minds, and why it's so hard.
I can't say too much about the plot without giving it all away, so let me just give you the summary:
Reid, Hotch, Prentiss, and Morgan find themselves trapped by an UnSub after an investigation takes a terrifying turn. Garcia, Rossi, and JJ try to help before the rest of the team's time runs out.
Quick, non-spoilery review? This is a strong, well-plotted, tense case-fic, where everyone sounds like themselves, and the unsub is a real human being as well as a lurking monster.
I've got to be honest with you at this point and say that this isn't my usual kind of fic. After 'The Fisher King' and 'Revelations', I'd kind of had my fill of the clever unsub who plays cat and mouse with the team. But the story has a good explanation for why this works for the villain, as well as doing what Criminal Minds always does and humanising him. This is one of the things I love about the show; everything is a shade of grey, bad guys and good guys alike.
If I have any criticism of the story, it was actually that it felt too short! It's just over 16,000 words, but I would have read it at twice that length. The pacing does give it drama, but for me, there could have been more scene-setting, which would have made the exposition scenes a little less talky. Regular readers of my journal will know that the visual is important to me when I'm reading, and I would have liked a little more than I got. What was [key witness's] house like? What was the town like? The show has the advantage of being able to use a two second shot to establish this, whereas it can add paragraphs to a story. For me, this story was more than strong enough to have supported more description, and I still would have read it from start to finish.
There were some point of view shifts within scenes that distracted me, but the character voices themselves were good and strong, and the dialogue was spot on. What I liked about it was that it mimicked the show, in splitting the team, having them work together while physically apart, and having the different groups work the way they always do. And while Reid is the fanfic favourite for both the whump and the talky-solution (something that would usually have me clicking away), in this case, I believed it. The intellectual flavour of the story meant that he was the right character for the job, and the ending rounded his part of the story off nicely.
This is strong, gripping writing, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who's been craving Criminal Minds casefic.
Enjoy!
Wrong Turn by
buffyaddict13 and cycatryx is a long case-style fic, that simultaneously demonstrates that it's possible to write good case-fic in Criminal Minds, and why it's so hard. I can't say too much about the plot without giving it all away, so let me just give you the summary:
Reid, Hotch, Prentiss, and Morgan find themselves trapped by an UnSub after an investigation takes a terrifying turn. Garcia, Rossi, and JJ try to help before the rest of the team's time runs out.
Quick, non-spoilery review? This is a strong, well-plotted, tense case-fic, where everyone sounds like themselves, and the unsub is a real human being as well as a lurking monster.
I've got to be honest with you at this point and say that this isn't my usual kind of fic. After 'The Fisher King' and 'Revelations', I'd kind of had my fill of the clever unsub who plays cat and mouse with the team. But the story has a good explanation for why this works for the villain, as well as doing what Criminal Minds always does and humanising him. This is one of the things I love about the show; everything is a shade of grey, bad guys and good guys alike.
If I have any criticism of the story, it was actually that it felt too short! It's just over 16,000 words, but I would have read it at twice that length. The pacing does give it drama, but for me, there could have been more scene-setting, which would have made the exposition scenes a little less talky. Regular readers of my journal will know that the visual is important to me when I'm reading, and I would have liked a little more than I got. What was [key witness's] house like? What was the town like? The show has the advantage of being able to use a two second shot to establish this, whereas it can add paragraphs to a story. For me, this story was more than strong enough to have supported more description, and I still would have read it from start to finish.
There were some point of view shifts within scenes that distracted me, but the character voices themselves were good and strong, and the dialogue was spot on. What I liked about it was that it mimicked the show, in splitting the team, having them work together while physically apart, and having the different groups work the way they always do. And while Reid is the fanfic favourite for both the whump and the talky-solution (something that would usually have me clicking away), in this case, I believed it. The intellectual flavour of the story meant that he was the right character for the job, and the ending rounded his part of the story off nicely.
This is strong, gripping writing, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who's been craving Criminal Minds casefic.
Enjoy!
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 04:44 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 06:33 pm (UTC)You're welcome!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:06 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:27 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 05:51 pm (UTC)omg, thank you so much for the review! cyx and i really appreciate it. <3 but most of all, thank you for take the time to read our story.
:-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 06:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 04:44 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 06:33 pm (UTC)You're welcome!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:06 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 07:27 pm (UTC)nate
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 05:51 pm (UTC)omg, thank you so much for the review! cyx and i really appreciate it. <3 but most of all, thank you for take the time to read our story.
:-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-07 06:33 pm (UTC)